Chasing Babies... Growing in Grace: Learning for Little Ones: Talking

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Learning for Little Ones: Talking

Tornado has chosen the Gross Motor Skills as his first area to grow and excel at. He was pretty much holding his head up the day he was born (you think I kid) and bouncing up and down when we'd hold him in a standing position. In recent months he has truly mastered walking, running, climbing and the like. :) A skill he is taking his time on however is the whole talking thing. :) He understands, sure. He knows like 30+ signs (I'm so glad I chose to teach him sign language... many say that is the reason he isn't talking, but studies show that isn't likely. I just keep imagining what life would be like if I hadn't taught him and he still weren't talking. I wouldn't be worth it!) I know he understands us and he is a great communicator. He just doesn't talk. In the last couple weeks he has started saying "mama", "dada", "uh oh", "nana" (banana), and maybe one other that I can't think of... other than that, nothing! And he's 17 1/2 months old. Don't get me wrong... I'm not worried or comparing him to others... it's just the way it is.

For this weeks Learning for Little Ones, I thought I'd share something I've started doing with him recently. I'm using meal times to teach language... spoken language. Why meal times you ask??? I find that food is a great motivator for my son. While he is mostly self feeding (and with silverware I might add... crazy!), there are a few things I choose to feed him. Things like applesauce and yogurt and... well... anythings else I'm sure would be a disaster. :)

Feeding times are great times to teach sounds. I am not holding out for whole words just yet, but when I was feeding him blueberry yogurt last week I just started telling him, "Buh-lueberry"... then when I decided the ...lueberry part was too hard, I just worked on the "Buh" sound. He started getting it right away. I would say "Buh"-lue "buh"-erry. Or "buh"-all, or "buh"-ird... you get the picture I think. Now when I say "buh"... he is quick to copy me. :)

Yesterday he gave "blueberry a shot... he was nowhere close, but I could distinctly hear the "bl" sound. :)

Have you tried deliberately teaching your little ones to talk??? Any success stories? Any tips?

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Labels: Learning for Little Ones

5 Comments:

At May 15, 2008 at 11:05 AM , jessica @pianomomsicle said...: i am a little relieved to hear you say that. My son is 15 months old, and it seems like all his friends have been talking since a year, and he hasn't said anything resembling a word except dada, which he calls everything.

When he had his 15-month checkup this week, i talked to the doctor, because i was worried that because he can stack 6 blocks but not talk, i was afraid he is autistic. He's not. (i even blogged about it this week.)

So i'm not glad, exactly that your son doesn't talk, i'm just glad to know that it's normal for kids not to talk yet. First-time moms have it rough with all the worrying, huh?
At May 15, 2008 at 2:17 PM , Nikki said...: Sarah Beth only had a few words until a couple of months ago, well, when Daniel was born. I don't know if it was related or not, but all of a sudden she started picking up a word or two a day. She still doesn't put them together much, but at least she's trying to learn our language. Oh, she was 21 months old when Daniel was born. I have a good friend with a little girl that is only 8 days older than Sarah Beth, and she was talking at a year. I understand how hard it is not to compare and be disappointed.
At May 15, 2008 at 4:54 PM , Uberly Ewe said...: My son just started to talk last year in July. (july 2007) He was taking Speech Therapy since he was a Foster to Adopt child and his birth mother did drugs during the pregnancy and the case workers were concerned about his lack of Speech. He started Speech at 18 months.
But it was not working- taking Speech. Back in July of last year I switched Speech Therapst and I also bought The Letter Factory by Leap Frog- a 30 minute DVD. It goes through each of the letters of the alphabet and over their sounds. I would allow him to watch it every single day for a week. He loved it so much that some days he wanted to watch it 2 or more times at a time. With in two weeks he was saying "Buh" clearly and we were working on Ball, Bubble, and Bye-Bye, and with in 3 to 4 weeks he was making the sound for each of the letters of the alphabet. In fact that is how he said the alphabet at first was the sounds but with in a week he was saying ABCD....
At 18 months is when I really started working on the sign langugue with him and I would have to agree this was a LiFE Saver for us. He was able to communicate with him even if he couldn't use his voice. It helped so much. I don't think Sign Language delays speech but rather helps to increase their vocabulary so that when they finally do start talking they know so many words and are even more excited to say the words with their own voices because they already know what the item is.
And just remember- boys to tend to talk later than girls, and yes they tend to excel with the GROSS MOTOR Skills. Boys are just more physical!
At May 15, 2008 at 8:58 PM , Kim said...: My first talked very well early on. It amazed me how well she did compared to her peers. My second (who is 22 months)..has started talking alot later and not as clear. She is slowly picking up new words daily. I would say not to worry..sometimes kids are just late bloomers. I did a few signs (and I mean a few as in 2 or 3) w/ my second. The one that she caught on to and used the most was for more. No matter how hard I tried to get her to say the word more instead of using the sign, she wouldn't do it. So, I doubt that I will try much signing w/ my 3rd. We've gotten along just fine w/ my later talking second.
At May 16, 2008 at 3:45 PM , IF said...: All Kids all develop so differently, a lady on the beach was just telling Irek about her child saying everything and sentences at a year. Iza has started to say more and more in the past 3-4 months. (She is 18 months) I found that flashcards were the biggest help for us. Iza has only put two sentences together in the past few weeks... Duh do (love you) and I pretty, or I baby, and hey mee mee.... but she says a lot of words. My dad insisted I have some flashcards when she was about 9 months old. He made sure my mom brought them to Poland last October! haha. She absolutley loves those big pretty alphabet and number flashcards with pictures. ($10 a box) They over-stimulated her at first and she kind of went nustso and got really hyper and excited, so I had to start with just a few cards. She can say almost all of the words on them now and wants to look at them every day. I love Flashcards! :) If the flashcard says Apple, I show her the card, then we go and find an apple in the house. Or a stool, then we go find a stool... etc, etc. She really likes the games we play with them. It may be a long time with her before she really starts talking well. I think the two languages are a lot for her. She gets frustrated, especially when I tell her something in Polish. I tried to teach her polish name for rock and she got so mad and started yelling rock, rock, rock... She seems to understand everything Irek tells her in Polish but she only says 3-4 polish words. She mainly speaks in English or says things no one understands!

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Chasing Babies... Growing in Grace

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Learning for Little Ones: Talking

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